


Cadre

by katerbees



Category: Throne of Glass Series - Sarah J. Maas
Genre: AU, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-25
Updated: 2017-10-25
Packaged: 2019-01-22 19:48:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 6,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12489496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katerbees/pseuds/katerbees
Summary: AU TOG Fic featuring the Cadre as a metal band. Features Gangs like the Ilken and Valg. One night Lorcan, lead singer for Cadre spots Elide getting harassed at a show. He of course saves her and all hell breaks loose.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Rated M for mild violence, lots of swearing, and drug references.

This city was a shit hole. Corrupt, dirty, dark. Lorcan had grown up here, learning early on how to hustle and how to stay alive. He took a drag from his cigarette. If you call this living he thought; assessing the alleyway for anything out of the ordinary. Detecting nothing, he tossed his cigarette to the ground and crushed the filter with his shoe. He sighed, mentally preparing for the night ahead. He grabbed the black solid door and stepped into the dimly lit club, The Oakwald. 

The club was almost as dark as the street alley he had just walked in from, and smelled just as bad. The odor of alcohol, grease, and vomit mixed with bleach filled his nostrils. In a disgusting way, it smelled like home. “Check 1 2, Check 1,2” Lorcan heard from the stage. Fenrys was standing at the mic for sound check. “It sounds like shit,” Lorcan yelled across the empty theater floor. In two hours the place would be packed with fans and whoever else happened to find their way here on a Friday night. For now, it was just Lorcan and the other members of Cadre and Dorian, the sound check guy from Oakwald.“Sorry about that guys, let’s try again.” a voice came from next to Lorcan. Dorian was messing with some buttons trying to get the monitors and amps to fire up.“Check check” Fenrys tried again. At least this time, some sound came out. Lorcan rolled his eyes and headed backstage, these two idiots could figure that shit out. 

He passed through a door to the side of the stage, into the green room. Gavriel, the oldest member of Cadre was sitting in a chair, making notes on some pieces of paper. “Hello Lorcan.” Gavriel said without looking up. “What’s going on?” Lorcan responded, gesturing to the papers even though Gavriel couldn’t see him. “Making notes on where you will be picking up Vocals. Fenrys has most of it covered, but you need to join him in “Blood Oath” “Enemy of the Mate” “Witch Blood” and “Valg pigs” “ Gavriel listed from their set list. Lorcan rolled his eyes but didn’t argue. “Fucking Whitethorn,” is all he said, and he went back outside to smoke another cigarette.

Lorcan leaned up against the brick side of the building. He didn’t feel like helping them set up. He didn’t feel like doing much of this anymore. Not since Whitethorn had decided to leave Cadre a few months ago, leaving Lorcan to pick up vocals, and leaving a position behind in their other job. 

Cadre was a metal band. The city was in a state of turmoil and change. The gangs were all vying for power. This was very good for the metal scene; the band was finally taking off. Their manager, Maeve, had managed to score them some gigs at a few real venues. Ones that were in places like Perranth, Bellhaven, and Anielle. Places outside the city, where people actually came to listen to music and spend money on merchandise and food and cds.The reason they were playing at The Oakwald tonight was to move a new shipment of the hottest new pill, witch mirror, to their buyers. The new nice venues had things like security, and cops, and people that didn’t use drugs as often. And even if those nice suburban people were users, they came into the city to buy them. Here at The Oakwald, everyone knew that after the show, all you had to do was know the right word, and you could score what you wanted. Cadre was partially a front. But Lorcan and the rest of Cadre loved to play music. Maeve had promised them all that if Cadre took off enough, one day, they could cut out of the drug shit, sell off their portions to one of the other gangs, and go full time legitimate.

Whitethorn hadn’t given a shit about any of that. As soon as he met that girl, that Aelin, he was done. Done with selling drugs, done with playing music, and done with Lorcan.   
Whitethorn had been the lead vocalist of Cadre, and he had been damn good at it. He also wrote lyrics with Gavriel. Most importantly to Lorcan though, he was very good at making connections with the right people. Good at making sure if there was security they either didn’t know or didn’t see what was going on behind the scenes with those extra boxes the band brought along. He was also good at kicking people’s asses if a deal went south. He and Lorcan had been through a lot of shit together; a lot of things they wouldn’t have survived if they didn’t have each other’s backs. And Whitethorn had walked away from all of that. To add insult to injury, that bitch he was dating, had stolen from Maeve, and had set Lorcan up to take the fall for it. Aelin had replaced three crates of witch mirror with goddamned tic-tacs. Whitethorn had looked the other way on security duty to let her do it. Lorcan delivered three crates of candy to the Valg gang instead of drugs. It hadn’t been pretty. Lorcan had managed to kill the four of them, but barely. Maeve had been disgraced, and an all-out gang war was a very real threat.

When Lorcan tracked Aelin down and had her pinned to the wall with a knife to her throat, Whitethorn had stepped in and ripped Lorcan off of her; standing between them, “If you touch her again, I will kill you” Whitethorn had shouted. Lorcan believed him. “She set Maeve up, she set me up, I was almost killed by four Valg soldiers!”Lorcan screamed at the man he had considered his best friend. “She tried to kill me Whitethorn, how are you defending this crazy bitch!?” Lorcan snarled. Whitethorn punched him in the face, hitting him so hard he fell to the ground.  
“It’s Rowan now. And I don’t care what she did to you or Maeve. She did what she had to. If you find us again, I’ll kill you,” Rowan replied. With that, he put his arm around Aelin, and they walked off into the night.   
“Fucking bitch.” Lorcan said out loud as he remembered his last encounter with the two of them.


	2. Chapter 2

Lorcan always had a hard time adjusting to the stage lights. They made him sweat, his tan skin glistening, and his dark hair sticking to the back of his neck. Everything else, he just felt with every ounce of his being. The music flowed through him, filling his veins with the closest thing to happiness he had ever known in his miserable life. When he was on the stage he didn’t have to worry about where his next meal was coming from, or Whitethorn, or selling drugs, or about the people he killed. He just played rhythm guitar and sang.  
The audience was a sea of faces and bodies thrashing up and down to their music. Some people were screaming along. They were halfway into the song “Blood Oath,” when Lorcan saw something happening out of the corner of his eye. There was a young girl with long black hair, wearing a purple tunic and leggings, who was clearly not used to hanging out in dive bars. She kept looking behind her, and while she was trying to look like she belonged there, she had no drink in her hand, and she definitely didn’t know any of the words to the songs. Probably someone’s girlfriend that they drug along here, Lorcan thought to himself. Couples were the worst.  
Lorcan continued singing and plucking along for the rest of the song. “Thanks for coming out the The Oakwald tonight everybody! Just a reminder that after the show we will have our regular merchandise as well as a ton of our new merchandise for sale,” Fenrys spoke into the microphone. Gavriel would work the legit table, selling CDs while Fenrys and Lorcan would be out back with the witch mirror. “Next up we’re going to play one of our favorites, “Witch Blood” he continued into the mic as he played the first note of the song. Lorcan looked up again, he saw the same girl in the back of the audience, this time, she was arguing with two men, dressed in the colors of the Ilken gang. One was behind her, blocking her path from the front door. The other was leaned in close to her, too close, judging by the look on her face. He saw her shove the one Ilken away and turn to walk into the crowd. The Ilken who had been behind her grabbed her from behind, putting a hand over her mouth. Her eyes went wide, and she made eye contact with Lorcan. Help me. Lorcan had to do something. But what? They were in the middle of a song. Shit shit shit. They were dragging her to the side door that led out to the alley.   
Lorcan froze. He stopped singing. Fenrys looked over, confused. “Intermission. Sorry, nature calls!” Lorcan said, feeling like an idiot. The crowd collectively grumbled, several shouts of “what the fuck” were heard along with some booing  
“Nesryn,” he yelled to the barkeeper, “first round is one me!” That calmed the crowd down, Nesryn raised her eyebrows, shook her head, and started pouring shots into little cough syrup sized containers.   
Lorcan sat his guitar down and ran for the side door. He arrived in the alley. Other people had already made their way out to take a smoke break. No sign of the girl and those thugs. Shit shit. Lorcan listened for any sounds that were out of the ordinary. He knew this city like the back of his hand. He saw a cardigan lying at the entrance to another alley down the street and ran towards it.  
Lorcan turned the corner and nearly ploughed through the first Ilken who was standing watch. He quickly looked behind him to the back of the Alley and saw the girl lying on the ground, putting up a fight with the Ilken on top of her. Lorcan punched the standing ilken in the nose once, causing the man to double over. Lorcan introduced the man’s head to his knee sending the man falling to the ground. He then began kicking him in the ribs. The Ilken who had been on top of the girl jumped to his feet.  
“Hey buddy, back off, it’s not what it looks like.” the Ilken lied, arms out in front of him in a placating position “Is that so?” Lorcan spat, stepping closer and closer to the man. He could see the girl getting up to a seated position, sliding her body over to the wall, protecting her body with her arms and legs and crying.   
Lorcan could not remember the last time he was so angry. Even when Aelin set him up and those Valg tried to murder him paled in comparison to this. He would make this man literally eat his own dick. “It looks to me like you’re fucking kidnapping and assaulting this girl and it looks like I’m going to fucking kill you!” Lorcan yelled at the man.  
“No, no, no. We were sent by her Uncle. She owes a great debt to the owner of Morath. She needs to come with us to pay him back. We are simply doing our job.” the Ilken protested, believing that by saying these words meant that he would be walking out of this alley with the girl in tow. “I don’t care what the fuck you think she owes anybody. You don’t have the right to touch her. You don’t have the right to come in and ruin my show.” Lorcan raged  
“You know who the leader of Morath is, don’t you?” the man started again. “I do not think that’s an enemy you are interested in making. When I don’t return, they will know what happened. They will hunt her down. They will hunt you down.” the man stated with impressive calm. Lorcan had heard rumors about Morath. He knew it was a strip club in the city. He knew that a lot of girls who worked there were forced to and were high most of the time, and he also knew that a lot of them were never seen again. And the owner was the one person even Maeve was afraid of. The crime boss Erawan.   
Lorcan hadn’t expected that. “How much money does she owe?” Lorcan asked. “It is not money she owes. And it is something that only she has. So I will be taking her back to Morath tonight.” Lorcan detected the girl shaking. He could detect the panic at the mention of going back there, could sense that she was worried he was going to walk away and let this many take her away. There was no way in hell that was happening. “Well,” Lorcan started, “then I guess we will just make sure no one finds your bodies.” a cruel smile appeared on his face, as he reached into his pocket to pull out the knife


	3. Chapter 3

Lorcan washed his hands in a puddle. He had drug the bodies into the Avery River with cinderblocks tied to their ankles. No one was going to find those Ilken any time soon. The girl handed him her cardigan to dry his hands. She hadn’t spoken yet, but she had helped him clean up the blood, Lorcan not missing the fact that she was not startled by the wounds the man had sustained, and that she knew the best way to clean up blood.

Lorcan looked down at her, she had finally stopped shaking. “Do you need me to take you to the hospital or police station or anything?” Lorcan asked as they began to make their way back to the club. “No. I have a few bruises from being knocked around, but you got there in time before they could do anything else…” her voice trailed off. Lorcan grunted in an affirmative manner. He didn’t know what else to say. He didn’t want to ask her what the man had been talking about, and he certainly didn’t want to think about the fact that he had just killed men who were working for Erawan. Maeve had been working on brokering an alliance between the two gangs and this would not bode well. Shit, Lorcan thought, what was he going to do?

As they neared the back entrance to the club, he spotted Chaol, the security guard. Lorcan went to wave and give him a hassle but Chaol’s eyes widened and Lorcan knew something was wrong. “Lorcan you need to get the hell out of here.” Chaol whispered , looking behind him in the direction of the club. “What are you talking about?” Lorcan responded. “Shit is going down. Your boss lady showed up and saw you all weren’t playing. Worse, Vern from Morath is in there right now shouting about how something has happened to his security guards and how they were last seen heading into the club trying to find his niece. He is in there right now tearing it apart, detaining all of the concert goers trying to find them. Maeve is flipping her shit. “ Chaol spat out as much as possible and as quickly as possible. 

His eyes shifted to the dark haired girl who had now gone very still, and who was almost folded into Lorcan’s side. Lorcan’ saw Chaol eyeing the girl and piecing things together. He felt her stiffen and draw herself closer to him. Shit. Lorcan growled “Stop looking at her like that.” Chaol’s eyes returned to meet Lorcan’s gaze, “If you both get out of here now, and don’t come back. I won’t say anything to anybody. You have my word” Lorcan believed him.


	4. Chapter 4

Elide had been through one hell of a week. She had escaped death not once, but twice. And now here she was with this stranger who had saved her even though he could have given her up twice now. She wondered what he would want in return. 

The man next to her was built like a mountain. He was impressively tall and muscular. Elide had found herself admiring him when he was on the stage. He had seemed like he was in a trance.

“My name is Lorcan.” he said to her. “In a few days I’m sure things will calm down and my boss can straighten everything out. But until then, it seems like we need to lay low. Do you have anywhere we can go?” Elide shook her head. “No. I ran with only the clothes on my back.” She could have said so much more, but right now she was just tired. And it hadn’t been entirely true. Her friend, Manon, had managed to stuff a couple hundred dollars into Elide’s bra as she pushed her into a taxi, throwing another hundred at the driver to forget that he had ever been there or seen them.

Lorcan shrugged. “Alright then, we can’t go back to my place, Maeve and the rest of Cadre will be there later. So I guess we will get a hotel.” He heard her stomach growling. “One that is still serving food.” he added.

They ended up at a Glass Castle Inn on the north side of the city after having a taxi take them to a different hotel, and then walking two miles to this one to help throw off anyone’s scent who might be looking for them. Lorcan had noticed the girl had started to noticeably limp.

They walked into the Inn and sat down in the lounge. Lorcan went to the bathroom. Elide was flipping through the hotel’s information booklet when an older man came over and sat down next to her. She could feel his eyes traveling up and down her body. She looked up, gave a curt nod, and returned to reading the brochure.

“Welcome to our hotel miss. Do you have a reservation, or are you waiting to meet somebody?” he asked while leering at her. Elide looked up at him, he winked at her. “I’m not really looking for any extra company right now, thank you,” She stated and looked back down, she could feel her cheeks getting warm. The man moved to put his hand on her thigh. She might have been worried had a six and a half foot tall man not appeared in front of them. “Actually,” Elide said, removing the man’s hand and springing to her feet, “ I was just waiting for my husband to get out of the bathroom.” she stepped up to Lorcan, embracing him, and got up on her tiptoes to kiss him.

Lorcan slowly moved his head to look down at her, had she just called her his husband? He had definitely just given his number to a beautiful woman that was standing outside the bathroom. Now he wouldn’t get to mess around at a hotel and he would look like a cheating skeezeball. 

“Ah, yes.” Lorcan said slowly. “Did you get the reservations made, wife?” he asked, his voice seething with annoyance. “Not yet,” Elide replied. “This gentleman right here was putting some personal touches on the suite he reserved for us.” It was Elide’s chance to wink at the man who had now gone pale in the presence of Lorcan’s powerful and towering presence. “Right away miss, of course.” he stammered, and made the arrangements that Elide had commanded.


	5. Chapter 5

“Don’t you have any luggage?” the other man working the front desk asked them. Lorcan froze. Shit.

“No, our bags got lost on our flight here. They should arrive in a few days,” Elide lied through her teeth, leaning over the counter so that her large breasts suddenly made themselves known as they rested on the countertop.

Impressive lying and tits. Lorcan thought. The man at the desk barely bothered to try and avert his gaze. “No problem. Here are some extra toiletries for your room. The suite does include room service which is only closed from 2 am-6 am, please enjoy your stay.”

They took the express elevator to their room. Elide swiped the keycard and immediately felt safer with the door and the man she had just met standing between her and the city.

“Husband?” Lorcan finally spat out at her. “Not friend? Or brother? Even boyfriend, but husband?” Elide sighed while stretching her arms up over her head and yawning. “Sorry, that swine of manager was groping me before you came out. I told him I was not interested and he didn’t care. Men don’t respect women. They do respect and fear other men, especially other men’s property. Therefore, for now, I am your wife.” Elide replied in a calm voice, as if these were facts that everyone knew. Lorcan couldn’t argue with that. He had seen the way that so many men treated women like they were property.

“Fine. Wife. However, since we’re married now I feel like I’m entitled to know a few things about you. Firstly, your name.” Lorcan said, sitting down on the couch. “My name is Marion” Elide lied. If he got caught it was better if he didn’t know her real name. It would be safer for both of them that way. 

“Ok Marion,” Lorcan continued, “Why were you at my show tonight with a bunch of Ilken trying to kill you?”

“I’d really rather not say.” Elide responded. It was such a crazy story.

“Well I’m in really deep shit with my friends and my boss right now because I rescued you so I think I deserve to know why I’m ruining my life and my career.” Lorcan snapped. Did Marion not appreciate any of the shit he had gone through tonight for her?  
“I know.” Elide responded quietly, sitting on the bed. She took off her shoes and rolled up her leggings. It was then Lorcan saw the massive scar tissue and terrible tattoo upon her ankle. She had literally been branded like property.

Lorcan became quite still. Trying not to stare, but unable not to look. “Who did that to you?” he asked, too softly. “My uncle.” Elide responded; her stomach growling. Elide shivered on the bed, as though a ghost had walked through her.  
Lorcan didn’t have a family. Maeve and the members of Cadre were the closest thing he had ever had to one and even though they were all cold-hearted killing bastards, they would never do anything like that to each other. What had this girl been through? Lorcan got up, sat next to her and put a blanket around her shoulders. “Hey, you’re ok for now. We will get all of this sorted out soon. For tonight, take a bath, and try to forget about the people who want to kill you.” Lorcan said, much calmer than he had been a minute ago. Elide looked at him with a shocked expression, “Easy for the star of a rock band to say.”

Lorcan snorted. “I’m flattered. First, it’s a metal band. Second, I’m not really a star, I’m more the second fiddle type of guy, and third, I’m a drug dealer for one of the gang leaders, Maeve. I have killed more people than I can remember and people try to kill me on an almost daily basis.”

Elide sat there hugging the blanket closely to herself. “Well, you don’t seem that scary.”

Lorcan rolled his eyes at her. “Take a bath, we can send your clothes to the laundry service since you scored us a fancy room.”

“I don’t have anything to sleep in.” Elide replied, panic starting to rise in her voice. Tonight when she kissed Lorcan it had actually been her first kiss. Her life had not lent itself to the frivolity of dating nor the desires of sex. She was not sleeping naked in the same room as a man she just met. Was that something he expected? Was there a price to him saving her?

“Wear a robe, turn off the lights, take the robe off in bed. Don’t worry, I’ve seen a ton of naked chicks, I am a rock star, remembers?” Lorcan teased. Elide did not find his comments funny. She gave him a look that dared him to say another word and went into the bathroom. A minute later, she put her clothes outside the door.


	6. Chapter 6

When Elide exited the bathroom wearing a robe she looked around, and saw no sign of Lorcan. Her heart started to race. Had he decided she was more trouble than she was worth? And then she saw two bags and a pizza box lying on the bed. She peered into the bags. They contained a set of pajamas with unicorns on them and leggings that looked very similar to what she had on earlier, a few new shirts, a 5 pack of underwear and a bra. Elide felt like she was going to die from embarrassment. Lorcan had guessed her bra size. And got it right. And bought her pajamas fit for a ten year old. And underwear that came in bulk.

She heard the room key swipe outside, and heard Lorcan’s voice shout “Is it all right if I come inside?”

“Yes.” Elide responded, trying to sound as normal as possible. “I hope you don’t mind, there was a Bullseye store down the street and I figured that would be faster than waiting on the laundry.”

“Yes. Thank you so much.” Elide replied briskly.

“What’s wrong? Is something the wrong size? You can exchange anything you need tomorrow.” Lorcan asked, surprising even himself that he cared what she thought.  
“It’s just…What about me says unicorns?” she asked, holding up the pajamas and trying to keep a straight face. Lorcan smiled. An actual smile. Elide was amazed at how much younger it made him look and how much more gentle.

“It was that or bananas and you are clearly more of a unicorn.” He responded. Elide laughed. She couldn’t remember the last time she had done so.

Lorcan walked over to the pizza box and opened it. “I went with half pepperoni half cheese. Take whatever you want and I’ll eat whatever is left.” 

Elide could not remember the last time she ate. Even then, she could not remember the last time she was able to eat as much as she wanted. She grabbed three pieces to start with and began to devour them. Lorcan had also grabbed a 6 pack of beer and had opened one while she was picking out her pizza.

Elide began talking between giant bites of food, “My uncle is the manager of the Morath strip club. He and his security, mostly Ilken, drug the girls and make them dance. He keeps all of their money. If they try to escape or keep any of their money to send to their families, he kills them. He also traffics women to several of the gangs in the area. Mostly the Valg and the Ilken. Any children the women have are sold as well”

Lorcan sat there, fumbling his beer in his hands, taking all of this in. Did Maeve know what all was going on in there? Children being sold to the gangs for god knows what? Women being drugged out of their mind to be sex toys for the gangs? Maeve was a woman. There was no way she would be ok with this. He would straighten everything out in a few days.

Lorcan looked up from his bottle at Elide and said, with deathly calm, “Did your uncle make you…?”Elide shook her head. “No, for the past year I’ve worked as a cocktail waitress, to pay for the food and board my uncle said I owed him. But last week, he tried to dose me with pills. I don’t know why. It didn’t work, my friend who is a bartender there saw him do it and told me. Another girl was super out of it from the drugs the dancers are forced to take and she fell asleep in my bed one night. I didn’t think it was a big deal so I covered her with a blanket and slept on the floor. My uncle came in and put a needle in her arm instead of the pills. That needle was meant for me. It ended up being a hotshot and it killed her. I don’t know what he wants from me or to do with me, but I knew that night I had to get out of there. My friend helped me escape. I was on the street for a few days, when I spotted the Ilken looking for me and ran into the club. I didn’t think they would be bold enough to attack me in the middle of a concert. But they did. And then you came and saved me”

Lorcan couldn’t help but smile to himself slightly. For once in his miserable life, he had done something right. He had saved a nice girl from something shitty. Even if it was for one night, he had done something good.

“Let’s try to not make a habit out of it.” Lorcan joked dryly, raising his glass in her direction.

“Indeed,” Elide agreed as she finished eating. When she was done Lorcan ate the one piece of pizza she left behind. She had offered to order more or go get some, but he had refused, saying he wasn’t that hungry anyways. When they were done eating, Lorcan moved the couch in front of the door and laid down on it.

Elide changed into her new unicorn pajamas and granny panties, crawled into bed, and got the best night of sleep she had had in years.


	7. Chapter 7

Sunlight streamed into the suite. Elide awoke with a start. She felt like she had slept for years. She quickly took stock of the events of the night before. She had escaped the Ilken again. But they would still be looking for her. She had to get her information to Celaena as soon as possible. Once she did that, she would need to meet up with Aelin who could get her into witness protection.   
She remembered Lorcan mentioning Maeve. Maeve was his boss. Aelin had dealings with Maeve, she remembered hearing through the grapevine. She would need to find a way to bring it up.   
Speaking of Lorcan, where was he? She listened; she heard the sound pollution of the city and nothing else.   
It was then she noticed the smell of cigarette smoke.“Lorcan!?” She yelled. Sudden coughing came in response. “Are you smoking in the bathroom?” Elide yelled while rolling out of bed. Were they in high school? Elide walked over to the bathroom door and opened it.Lorcan was standing next to a window, his cigarette resting just barely outside the sill.  
“This is a non-smoking room.” Elide chided  
“Seriously?” Lorcan replied.  
Elide stamped her foot. Her full lips pursing into a pout. Lorcan stared at her mouth. Was she really mad at him for breaking a dumb rule? She really was a good girl. Lorcan rolled his eyes and flicked his cigarette out the window. “I needed to smoke, I didn’t want to leave you here by yourself and have you flip out and think I’d ditched you.” “Oh.” Elide responded. She hadn’t thought about it that way.  
“Well thank you then.” Lorcan started to get up. “But smoking is still pretty gross.”  
“Yeah, thanks Mom, I know.” Lorcan replied. This time, Elide rolled her eyes and turned to leave the bathroom. Lorcan admired the view. While her shorts did have fluffy unicorns on them, they barely covered her cheeks. He hadn’t picked them for that reason, but at this exact moment he was glad he had.  
Elide plopped down on the bed. “So…” she began.   
“Yeah.” Lorcan said, from the doorway. “What’s next?” He asked. “We can’t stay here forever. What’s your goal?”  
“I have an item I need to deliver to a woman named Celaena. Once I deliver it to her, I need to find a woman named Aelin.”  
Lorcan became frozen. It was an unusual name. “What do you need with this Aelin?” Lorcan asked tersely. Elide was picking up on some hostility. Hostility that would imply that he knew Aelin.  
“Do you know her?” Elide asked, a sudden edge to her voice.  
“Maybe. What do you need her for?” Lorcan asked, poorly dodging the question.  
“I can’t tell you. I’m sorry. I can tell you that once I do find her, you and I can split ways. She will be able to protect me from Vernon.”  
Lorcan snorted. “We clearly aren’t talking about the same person. The blonde bitch I know isn’t exactly the protective sort”  
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Elide responded, surprised at how defensive she was becoming over someone she hadn’t met.  
“That bitch tried to kill me and stole my best friend.” Lorcan snarled.  
Elide raised her eyebrows. “Well half of that seems like a legitimate concern and the other half makes you sound like a child” she retorted.   
Lorcan was pissed. How dare she talk to him like that. She had no idea what he had been through and he had even stuck his neck out for her last night and how he and Whitethorn had been best friends before that woman showed up.   
“Fine.” Lorcan gritted through his teeth. “Let’s go find her so you can see what a doll she is. She threatened to kill me the next time she saw me so you can get a front row seat to how great and protective she is!” Every word building up to a crescendo of shouting.  
Elide just crossed her arms. She had seen tempers flare in her day. This man did not frighten her. She hadn’t survived this long by being wrong about these things. “Sounds like a plan.” She called his bluff.


	8. Chapter 8

They rented the room for another night on their way out into the city. They would walk around looking for any information on Aelin’s current whereabouts.   
They wandered into a crowded pub at lunch time. Elide headed straight to the back of the room, spying an empty table for two. She sat down in her seat. Lorcan landed in the seat across from her.   
“Stop looking so surly” Elide commanded.A server walked over and handed them menus and took their drink order. Lorcan attempted to look more like an approachable person. “Now, dearest husband.” Elide began, winking at Lorcan, “where did you say you last saw Ms. Aelin?” She asked, reaching over and holding Lorcan’s hand.  
Lorcan froze. Why was she doing this to him? He wondered. Couldn’t he just take her to where he had last seen Aelin and been rid of her? It would have been so much easier. And yet, he knew he couldn’t. He let her hold his hand, he raised his head and met her gaze.  
“Ah wife. Don’t you remember? It was down behind Mistward apartments. In the courtyard.” He responded, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “She and her boyfriend had a lovely chat with me about how much they would love to kick my ass.”  
Elide kicked him under the table. “I’m sorry, I meant play some brass. I’m only good at stringed instruments you see.”  
Elide tried hard not to laugh, but did end up giving him a hint of a smile. “As I was saying,” Elide continued, “It’s just so strange that we haven’t heard from our friend Aelin in so long. Especially since you two had trouble agreeing on the price of those mirrors the last time we hung out.”   
Lorcan suddenly became very aware of what this little trickster across from him was doing. He also felt the eyes of quite a few seedy individuals turn their way. Their drinks arrived; Elide began to slowly sip her glass of wine while Lorcan gulped down his beer.   
“Anyways,” Elide continued, “I hope Aelin gets that mess sorted out.” She lowered her voice in a fake whisper for added dramatic emphasis. “I’d hate for anyone to find out about the missing mirrors.” Lorcan played along “Shhhh!” he gave her a concerned look and turned around to see who might be listening. To his admiration and surprise, several people were turning their heads ever so slightly to pick up their conversation. “Check please.” Elide said sweetly to the server the next time she came over. Lorcan started to say something to her  
“Hush husband, we have visitors.” Elide said with a wicked smile on her face that he had yet to see before.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you all liked this!


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